On Nazis, Jews & Ukraine ‘de-escalation’

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. Born in Brazil, he's been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of "Globalistan" (2007), "Red Zone Blues" (2007), "Obama does Globalistan" (2009) and "Empire of Chaos" (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is "2030", also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (in red) smiles at the start of a quadrilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (3rd L) and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Deshchytsia (3rd R) in Geneva, as representatives of the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and the European Union about the ongoing situation in Ukraine, April 17, 2014. (Reuters/Jim Bourg) / Reuters

​There are many potentially worrying signs in the ‘de-escalation’ process in theory agreed by the US, Russia, EU and Ukraine this Thursday in Geneva.

For starters; the regime changers in power in Kiev did not commit
themselves, explicitly, to constitutional reform (the draft
language is slippery, to say the least); they did not commit,
explicitly, to leaving Ukraine out of NATO; and a minor but still
significant point – this was not a joint press conference by the
two key players, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US
Secretary of State John Kerry.

Arguably, the US State Department is bound to interpret
‘de-escalation’ as a sort of ultimatum to every
anti-fascist, pro-autonomy and pro-Russia group in eastern
Ukraine, as in ‘disarm or else’. That’s the same logic behind the
nefarious March 2011 UN approval of a no-fly zone over Libya.

By negotiating directly with the Kiev regime changers in Geneva,
Moscow in fact took a step back – recognizing them as a
legitimate government (until then that was an absolute no-no.)
Moscow also implicitly recognized groups in eastern Ukraine – be
they independent-ist, pro-autonomy or pro-Russia – as the only
ones to be disarmed (what about Nazi-style or neo-fascists groups
in western Ukraine?)

And the key problem; there’s no way to verify for sure the
neutrality of OSCE peace missions, which can be easily
infiltrated by Western intelligence and even facilitate the
weaponizing of neo-fascist, pro-Kiev outfits.

The Jewish question

It gets even murkier, the process coming after CIA Director John
Breenan’s ‘secret’ visit to Kiev the previous weekend,
coupled with ‘leaked’ Washington plans to deliver ‘non-lethal
weapons’ (as in IEDs, mortars and grenades) to the regime
changers.

And then Kerry, alongside EU foreign policy chief Catherine
Ashton at the press conference, had to condemn the “grotesque
flyers that have no place in our 21st century,” as in
forcing Jews in eastern Ukraine to ‘register’.
Translation: the State Department accepted what bears all the
hallmarks of a CIA-style psy-op as a true story. A not-so-subtle
push to imprint in misinformed layers of public opinion the toxic
tie-up between Russophobia and anti-Semitism.

The State Department, for all its sleek machinery, would not even
bother to verify that real anti-Semitic posturing had in fact
been coming out of regime changer neo-Nazi outfits of the Right
Sector kind, coupled with the warning by Rabbi Reuven Azman of
Kiev for Jews to leave Ukraine.

Yet no wonder ‘Russian anti-Semitism’ became a lead news
story in Western corporate media. It held the ‘merit’ of
simultaneously demonizing Moscow while killing a real story – the
farcical Kiev ‘anti-terrorist’ operation encouraged by the CIA’s
Brennan.

As for the flyer psy-op, the original report, published by
Novosti Donbassa, said they were distributed by “three
unidentified men wearing balaclavas and carrying the flag of the
Russian Federation,” and carrying the logo of “the
People’s Republic of Donetsk” – as pro-Russian
autonomists/separatists define themselves.

The flyers were signed by Denis Pushilin, in theory the
‘people’s governor’. Pushilin then told Ukrainian media
the flyers with the logo were really distributed in Donetsk – but
fiercely rejected their content, denying his group had printed
them, and even denying he had used the title ‘people’s
governor’. Pushilin had no idea who was behind the
operation, which he labeled “a provocation’”

Also not surprisingly, Israeli media – and their American echo
chambers - were all over the place with the non-story, always
failing to stress that anti-Semitic attacks since the Maidan coup
had in fact been perpetrated by rabid anti-Russian, Western
Ukrainian neo-Nazis/neo-fascists.

And it gets curiouser and curiouser when one learns that the Bibi
Netanyahu administration in Tel Aviv not only supports the regime
changers, but also a possible wave of Ukrainian immigration to
Israel. Chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky told Israel
Radio this past Wednesday he expects immigration figures to
double by the end of the year. A quick glance at Israel’s
demographics problem and it’s easy to do the math.

The strategy lesson

The more things change… Before the accomplished putsch in Kiev
largely organized by the ‘Khanate of Nulands’ – a
neo-con cell inside the US State Department – the official
Washington narrative was that the Yanukovich government should
not by all means use force against “peaceful
protestors”, some of them, by the way, were ‘peacefully’
throwing Molotov cocktails at police, setting fire to buildings
and smashing statues. Now, those occupying government buildings
in eastern Ukraine are branded as ‘terrorists’.

Still, let’s go back to the basics. For all Western corporate
media hysteria and assorted psy-ops - ongoing and yet to come -
Moscow does not need to ‘invade’ anything in eastern
Ukraine or beyond. What matters is Ukraine out of NATO, and
preferably neutral, Finlandized - an option that even Cold
Warrior (or war criminal, take your pick) Henry Kissinger favors.
Ukraine will never become a member of the EU because the EU does
not want it, does not need it, and cannot afford it.

Moscow has already sent a stark message to the US/EU; there is a
very fine line from supporting civilian protests in Eastern
Ukraine to backing unofficial weaponized groups. This is hardcore
geopolitics – not color-coded-flyer Brussels blah blah blah.

The devil will now be in the details, as in how the disarmament
of assorted groups will progress in tandem with a process
granting vast layers of autonomy to eastern Ukraine. The current
cabinet in Kiev seems to be ready to play ball, telling
government officials, regional administrations and the Kiev
municipal administration that they have until October 1 to debate
proposed constitutional amendments leading to decentralization.

This is not an admission that Ukraine needs full federalization,
but it’s already a start. It’s what Moscow has been proposing
since the Maidan coup.

For all of what passes for Western ‘intelligentsia’
carping on Putin as a Stalin remix, the ‘sick Russian
bear’ and stupidities of the same ilk, a strategy lesson is
evolving. The Kremlin does have a vision, the will and the means
to pursue it, perseverance, and a carefully calibrated method.
Sun Tzu would approve it. Don’t provoke; wait. Be patient, but
not inactive. Accrue your potential. Then retake the initiative.
Strike only when the right convergence presents itself. And then
the ‘tactician’ on the other side, already blinded because he
does not respect you, will be left clueless, wondering what hit
him.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.